‘Crime’ arriving at Starz

Monahan penning drama about 1960s underworld scene in Britain

Written by “The Departed” scribe William Monahan and developed as a feature film by Vanessa Sadler, in-development drama will examine the underbelly of 1960s Britain.

Atlas Entertainment will produce. Project will mark Atlas’ first foray into television. Monahan will exec produce with Charles Roven and William Green.

Sonar Entertainment has the option to distribute the series to markets outside the U.S., where Starz has pay TV and home entertainment rights.

“There’s very little more interesting to me than the ’60s in Britain, taken from Profumo to psychedelia, from the London criminal world to the worlds of art and fashion — all of which continually intersected,” Monahan said. “I know one thing, it’s very funny.”

With Starz losing Disney’s pipeline of feature films in 2016, the pay cabler must keep up a steady stream of original series to prevent viewers from ending their subscriptions.

Net is losing “Spartacus” after the upcoming final season and has already canceled the critical hit but barely seen drama “Boss.” “Magic City” is about to enter its second season, and also upcoming is the Michael Bay-produced pirate skein “Dark Sails” as well as David Goyer’s “Da Vinci’s Demons.”